craftgrrl | Coffee Filter Paper Question (Reply)

Today I was at a local elementary school and I saw these awesome, colorful snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. They looked like they were colored with watercolors or food coloring. They looked like they were made using coffee filters. The only thing is that they were too large to be coffee filters, the paper seemed a bit thicker than a coffee filter too, and there were no scallops or curves like you see on coffee filters. I have found online some ideas as to why a coffee filter might not have the scallops - they were ironed out or starched and then ironed out. But it got me wondering if they were made from a special type of paper. I am wanting to do this craft with some elementary kids at church. We can make them with coffee filters but I loved that these snowflakes were so huge and thicker than a regular coffee filter.

So my question: If these snowflakes weren't made from coffee filters, what kind of paper do you think they were made from? I'm trying to search online for different types of papers and I can't find anything that seems right. I don't have the proper name and my search results aren't producing what I am looking for.

Any other ideas on how to step this craft up a notch would be appreciated.